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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23578537">A Long Way To Go</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:48:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,116</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23578537</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Trish needs to make it through her life while trying to navigate through the new move she has made with her mother.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kendra/Trish</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I breathed a deep sigh of relief as my mother was packing up the bags in order for all of us to move out of the house. Beside me sat my friend Kaitlyn. Today was going to be the very last day that I ever see my friend again.</p><p>“Well, I guess this is it,” I told Kaitlyn, but Kaitlyn was smiling. It was almost like she was happy that I was beginning to move out and begin to take some steps towards moving on in my life.</p><p>“I’m sure Fairfax isn’t going to be all bad,” she said before she gave me a hug. We were both sitting outside on the front porch of the house. Her mom was also helping take out some of the bags into the trunk.</p><p>“Yeah, well, it better not be a shit-fest like everyone says it’s going to be,” I said.</p><p>“Says who? All the people in Jennifer Snyder’s class? Forget them! Just remember to stand up tall and get ready to present yourself to the crowd!” I frowned a little bit at first, but then I managed to summon the urge to smile. </p><p>“Thanks! I’ll do my best!” I said as I started to get up from the porch to join my mom. Kaitlyn waved a good-bye to me as I started to go off into the distance.</p><p>I watched as everything that I had once loved start to disappear. The song birds that seemed to comfort me when i was sad. The Sun’s hot rays that always seemed to bake me. Of course, I loved summer when I was all the way out in New Jersey. Now, all of that was going to disappear.</p><p>I smiled and waved Kaitlyn a good-bye as I entered into the car, but when everything was all out of sight, I frowned. Even my own mother didn’t say a single word as we headed down the highway, streets that I didn’t even know.</p><p>***</p><p>The rain pattered against the car while my mother wrestled against the Traffic of Highway 95.</p><p>“Come on, now,” my mother said, doing her best to keep her cool. The frigid weather made it very cold inside of the car. I tightened my arms around the stuffed giraffe that I held inside of my hands.</p><p>“Is Izzy the giraffe doing alright?” my mother asked. I smiled back at her.</p><p>“Oh, please, Mom, she’s not alive,” I said. My mother laughed in return.</p><p>“I feel like it’s been awhile since the last time I’ve seen that smile before,” Mom said. “You must be really excited to move to the new place.” I nodded, trying to hide the uneasiness inside of me.</p><p>“I’m sure it’ll be even more beautiful than New Jersey!” I exclaimed, and that was what I really wanted to believe. Maybe this wasn’t going to be as bad as before.</p><p>The rain kept pattering down like spikes on the hood. Horns wailed at every car. </p><p>“Hey Mom, maybe we’ll end up waiting here forever. Maybe we’ll even end up living her inside of the car! There are some comfy seats, and the hood can protect us from stuff like rain.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t count on it, sweety.”</p><p>I, of course, didn’t mean it like a joke.</p><p>***<br/>I walked up to the house that was going to be my new home. I gulped down some air as I saw that it sat in the middle of the forest. </p><p>“Well, we’re here,” my mother said as she parked the car. I stared out the window. I clutched the stuffed giraffe inside my arms.</p><p>“What the fuck?” I said.<br/>***</p><p>I was going to the bus stop when a girl swung down from the tree Spider Man style.</p><p>I jumped backwards.<br/>    “Wahhh!”<br/>    “Hey!” she said, swinging her way down. Previously I had ben super scared of the fact I was going to start 7th grade at a new school, but this was even more frightening!<br/>    “Name’s Beth!” she said, holding out a hand. I grabbed it, a little apprehensive at the the fact that it was covered with tree bark.</p><p>    “Nice to meet you,” I said. “But do you really have to jump at me like that. She had her finger pointed to her chin as she looked up with a confused gaze in her eyes.<br/>    “Hmmm, well, how about yes. I just saw you move in the other da, and I thought that I would give you some kind of greeting!” she said. The school bus arrive. Finally.<br/>    “Ok,, bye,” I called.<br/>    “Wait,  I don’t even know your name!”<br/>    “Trish,” I called. <br/>    “Ok, Trish! I’ll try and remember that!” she called. The bus started to drive away. She started running.<br/>    “Hey, aren’t you going to come on here too?” I asked, but the bus was already moving away. I thought Beth was around my age. She had dark brunette hair. Maybe she goes to school some place else? I thought to myself.<br/>    ***<br/>    I sat perfectly still. You don’t have to talk to anyone, I thought to myself. The bus ride to school felt very uneventful. I saw several boys and girls talking among themselves. </p><p>    “Hey, are you new here?” I spun around to see a girl talking to me from across the other seat. She had her hair done in a long braid, and her clothese looked like it had come from one of the school uniforms.<br/>    “Yeah,” I replied.<br/>    “I’m Kendra, Kendra Louis,” she said as she moved over and sat next to me. “I know that it must be pretty awkward being around here.”<br/>    “I’m Trish, and you know I’m starting to get to know this place,” I said. She smiled and laughed a little.<br/>    “Well, Trish, you’re gonna need to be around some friends--because it’s going to be a rough ride when you get there!”<br/>    ***<br/>    I walked onto the school. Millions of kids were making their way to the doors. <br/>    “Welcome, Trish, to Langston Middle School,” Kendra said. “Allow me to show you around here.” As we made our way among the many people that were around us, I could tell I was no longer in New Jersey. Several boys made eye contact with me. As soon as they did, I turned away. <br/>    “Hello! Welcome back from the summer!” Many of the teachers said as we made our way. <br/>    “This way,” Kendra said. “Here we are; your homeroom class.” I looked inside. I saw a young man who looked like he was the age of 40 or so. He had a small curl on the top of his head, and he was cleanly shaven.<br/>    “Why good morning!” he said, reaching out his hand to shake mine. “My name is Mr. Goodsworth!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Trish learns to Adapt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I sat in the middle of the class. My eyes grew heavy, struggling to stay awake. If only there was something that I could do in order to get away--something to escape.</p><p>Mr. Goodsworth’s chalk slid across the board. My head fell on my books. How long? How long?</p><p>Of course, none of that was as bad as having to wait by the side of the school for the bus to show up. </p><p>“Ha ha! Gotcha!” many of the boys would say as they poked one another with their fingers. Some of the other girls were busy texting on their phones. I, on the other hand, remained in the shadows, crouching low in the hopes that nobody would see me.</p><p>I turned my head swiftly. Another girl was watching me. Her green eyes carefully observing me like a wombat in the darkness. Even as I got up on the bus, her eyes would only follow me.</p><p>***</p><p>“Hey,” Kendra said when she sat right next to me.</p><p>“Hey,” I replied a little absent mindedly. Not only was my mind focused on the fact that I had messed up so badly at school, but I was also mystified with the girl. Who was she? Why did she look at me like that?</p><p>“Do you know that girl?” I asked.</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“Never mind,” I said. I didn’t even know her name, I thought to myself. </p><p>“Yeah, first days tend to do stuff like that,” Kendra said. “They mess with your brain and make you feel like you’re confused or something.”</p><p>“No, I mean, have you ever met someone with red hair and has green eyes?” She looked at me as if I had seen a rhino.</p><p>“I’m not sure--”</p><p>“Never mind,” I said, but I couldn’t help but catch a glance that Kendra sent me.</p><p>***</p><p>I walked across the street to my house. The wind rustled against my coat, sending chills down my spine. I walked up to the door and wrapped on it. My mother opened it. For second she only creaked the door open, but seeing me, she wrapped her arms around me.</p><p>“How was your first day at school?”</p><p>“It was good I guess,” I said.</p><p>“You guess?” She started to get to her knees and set me on the floor. “What do you mean by you guess?”<br/>I searched for words, but all I could really think about was nothing but a blur.The day just felt like it had gone off into the wind. </p><p>“Honestly I can’t tell you a single thing that had happened today,” I said, smiling and chuckling. She smiled back. That was the best thing about Mom. She never seemed to get upset about anything despite the fact the day was going badly. She was what made every downhill go up.</p><p>“So what would you like to have for dinner tonight? We have spaghetti, spaghetti, and spaghetti.”</p><p>“I would take the spaghetti,” I replied.</p><p>“That’s what I thought,” my mom said.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On my bookshelf sat a series of books, most of which I never read myself. Of course, I had always been planning on figuring out some of those secrets that I never knew were on my own shelf; however, there was one that had been hidden from me for many years.</p><p>“Your father wanted to give you a diary ever since you were very little. As a matter of fact, he had left it here for you to find it one day.”</p><p>There were so many other things that were causing my head to spin. I figured that maybe if I took a little detour from trying to go to sleep I would be able to find something.</p><p>“Let’s see,” I said to myself as I started to take the book I had left alone on the middle shelf. THe writing looked as if it had been smudged a little.</p><p>Dear myself, it read. Why do I bother talking to myself? Of course, journaling does keep me away from all the shit going on in my life.  The rest of it was smudged writing.</p><p>Well, I can agree with you with that much, I thought as I looked up at the moon and wondered what was going on back at home...</p><p> </p><p>***<br/>“So in order to solve this multiplication problem--” Snap. It was as if my brain had shut down before I immediately went back to drawing. I took out the page from the diary. I wanted to read more. I wanted to discover more about Dad.</p><p>“Excuse me, Trish, but is what you are doing aplicable to the class?” asked Mr. Goodsworth.</p><p>“Oh, yeah, I was just taking notes on everything that was going on around,” I said. Stupid answer, I thought as I was met with a collection of laughter from many of my classmates.</p><p>“Well, I hope those are really good notes because I am going to have a long talk with you once this session is over,” said Mr. Goodsworth. So stupid, I thought to myself as I closed the journal. Why did I even try to supercede the system?</p><p>***</p><p>“Hey,” said Kendra. I looked up to see her smiling face. It felt good to see somebody that wasn’t here to laugh at my inadequacies.</p><p>“Hey,” I replied.</p><p>“You don’t look so bright,” she said. I shrugged my shoulders.</p><p>“Guess I’m just struggling to get accustomed to the new environment,” I said.<br/>SHe nodded. “Yeah, change can be hard.” SHe took a bit out of her sandwich.</p><p>“Hi, Kendra!” I spun around to see another girl walking up to her.</p><p>“Hey!” Kendra said. Together they embraced. I shifted inside my seat a little bit uncomfortably. </p><p>“So, Kendra, I’ve noticed that you’ve lost a couple pounds.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’ve been going out to the gym as of late,” she replied.</p><p>“Ummmm, I’m going to go away for some time,” I said as I stepped away from the table. Kendra didn’t even bat an eye.</p><p>“Ok,” she said, a smile grizzled on her face. I cringed before I started to head into the bathroom. Tears started to drip out of my eyes.</p><p>***</p><p>For a very long time, nothing but the padding of footsteps outside in the hallway. I thought that Kendra had all but forgotten about me. Fearful that somebody was going to come in here and see me crying, I took out my dad’s diary. Yeah, of all things. At least it was something to keep me busy.</p><p>Kendra ran into the bathroom and knocked.<br/>“Trish, I know you’re in there; can you open up? I need to talk to you.”</p><p>“Go away,” I said, hurt by the fact that she had abandoned me.</p><p>“Please,” she said in a very pleading matter, as if she was trying to make out some kind of dal with her. I ignored her. Sometimes, ignoring really helped. Sometimes it really drove into the fact that I really didn’t want to talk to her.</p><p>I’m smarter than you, I thought. At least I wasn’t distracted by all those other girls like she was. I was going to figure out how this diary worked and what my dad was going through. It was going to feel like the greatest accomplishment ever.</p><p>“Trish…” I could hear a faint echo in the back of the bathroom followed by more silence. I assumed she was gone. I sighed.</p><p>“Trish, you can’t just keep doing your own thing; you have to go to school. I could hear my mom’s voice inside of my head. I placed the diary back inside of my backpack and started to head to class.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Learning to fit in</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Trish meets a new friend and feels she is finally fitting in.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>CHapter 3:</p><p>“Well, class, if you would all take out your homework from yesterday. Grace? Grace!” I looked over my shoulder to see Grace behind me, her head was slumped against the desk.</p><p>“You see, class, never ever be like Grace!” Mr. Goodsworth said. </p><p>“He shouldn’t be doing that,” I could hear somebody comment from the other side of the classroom. Mr. Goodsworth slapped the desk with both his hands. “I know what is good for you. I really do.” She looked up at him with a sneer on her face.</p><p>“Well, then, all I must ask is that you pay more attention, Ms. Grace,” Mr. Goodsworth said. The entire room was silent as we watched Mr. Goodsworth go back to teaching.</p><p>***</p><p>“I fuckin’ hate that man! He is such a terrible teacher, and he doesn’t even know how to teach!” Grace said at lunch. She and I were eating together.</p><p>“Yeah, he sure as hell seems to get on your nerves a lot,” I said. I thought that Grace felt like all the company that I needed in a time like this. For some reason, I didn’t feel like I had to act any differently around her.</p><p>“If only I could grab his neck and start squeezing him to death. Oh, I’d sure as hell love it if he was dying. Oh, man! HIs dying breath!” I looked over to see Kendra sitting at a table across from us. She was eating lunch with al her other friends. She didn’t even try and bat an eye towards us.</p><p>“Well, I can only think to know what it is that you are feeling,” I said. Kendra was looking at me this time. She made some kind of face towards me. I ignored her. Of course, I was not that immature like she was.<br/>“Of course, if there is somebody that I hate more than Mr. Goodsworth, it’s probably her,” I said to myself.</p><p>***</p><p>Hiding in the girl’s bathroom, I took out a locket that I wore around my neck. Sifting it around within my fingers, I touched the locket that Kaitlyn had given to me. Kaitly, I miss you, I said to myself. The people here just aren’t quite like they were back at home. Already I could feel my mom’s stern voice condescending on me, stop lamenting on the past.</p><p>You’re right, I thought to myself. I got up from the bathroom. What the fuck was I doing here anyway? Taking a deep breath, I started to get out into the hallway--the very place where I could not find a way out.</p><p>***<br/>I sat alone in the bus, waiting for it to move--waiting for it to take me home. This really wasn’t any different from any of the other days at school, and they were just going to keep being like this for the longest time.</p><p>“Hey, Trish!” Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Grace sat next to me. The loneliness started to melt away, making me feel a little bit more whole. This entire bus ride, I wanted to thank Grace for having the willingness to sit next to me.</p><p>“I hear that some of the teachers have gone missing,” Grace said. She held up the school newspaper in her hand. Grabbing it, I read the front news headline: “Mr. Destefano has gone missing for the past week and a half.”</p><p>“Interesting,” I thought to myself. “Are there any records that indicate how something like this could happen?” Grache shrugged her shoulders.</p><p>“I don’t know. I just thought that it was an interesting topic to bring up,” Grace said. “It’s not that something like that is really going to happen to us.” We sat together in silence.</p><p>“I do hear that Mr. Goodsworth is planning on that field trip to the Amazon,” Grace said. “Hopefully it is something to look forward to, or maybe it’s just something that is going to confirm some of these dark events that are happening.”</p><p>“Who knows?” I said. At least it was something to distract me from my current being.</p><p>“Well this is my stop,” Grace said. “I guess I’ll see you later.” I waved her good-bye as the bus started to move away.</p><p>***<br/>“I think I actually had a good day today,” I thought to myself while I was staring up at the ceiling.</p>
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